One of the characteristics of the site of the online store, which affects the convenience and choice of users, is the richness of the assortment. In this way, the question of how many goods should be purchased for the online store to get the most profit with the least investment is difficult to call unimportant.
Let’s try to understand how to choose the optimal size of the assortment, and whether there is at all an accurate figure that can ensure the success of a commercial online project. For convenience and practicality, let’s walk through the possible mistakes and consider how to solve them.
Contents:
Three errors associated with the number of products on the site of the online store.
1. Too many goods
The user has no opportunity to choose because of the excessive number of options. Just to get acquainted with the assortment, he needs to flip through dozens of pages of similar products. As a result, he loses interest in the online store itself, which does not solve his problem but creates a new one.
The real problem, which disturbs the user, is errors in usability and navigation.
The solution: the breakdown of products into subcategories, setting up filters, and sorting grants to different characteristics. These could be.
- The cost range;
- Materials;
- Sizes/volumes;
- Manufacturers, etc.
The options and amount of filtration depend on the specifics of the business and the products sold.
2. Too few products
The potential client is not ready to give his attention to the online store whose pages are not rich in assortment. This reduces the level of trust and respect.
A common situation for young businesses. The main problem usually lies in the limited budget and insufficient time for development.
The solution: a step-by-step development and expansion of the assortment by brand or product group. There is no need to try to buy as many different products that belong to different categories as possible. It is better to gradually work through each of them. For example, you sell printed publications. First, you need to choose a narrow niche for development (subject or type of literature), deepen it and fill it with products, then add a second narrow niche, and so on. You can also develop the realization of branded goods.
The wider the online store will present narrow niches, the faster the profit will increase. This will happen due to high-quality work with the target audience and the gradual expansion of both the assortment and the customer base.
3. Too many categories are filled with a small number of products.
The user searches for a product in one of the categories on the site, but finds 1-5 positions, instead of the expected 20-30. If at the same moment, a competitor offers more, it will be impossible to keep a potential customer in most cases.
A common mistake made by online stores is those which want to expand the niche they occupy but are not prepared to support that aspiration with investments.
Solution: get rid of those product groups for which you do not have enough resources. Another option – you can combine the items to reduce the number of categories but create a sense of fullness. Of course, this will only work if the products are thematically combined.
- How to form the optimal number of products in an online store
- The answer to this question lies in the following indicators:
- The specifics of the business niche and the specifics of the market;
- The type and characteristics of the products;
- The offers of competitors;
- The expectations of the target audience.
These are the main points that influence the understanding of how many products you need to open and successfully develop your online store.
Conclusions
The market is disparate. Customers, the products they choose, and the characteristics of competition are so different that there are no ready-made unique formulas for calculating the optimal number of assortments.
Answering the question “How many products should be placed in the online store?” focus on the business niche and the target audience. The convenience and necessities of the latter will affect how successful your decision regarding filling the site with products is.
